Dusk over Atlantic Wharf

Characterization
Lata
Lata is a young woman, who had just moved to Wales with her new husband. She is young, probably in her early twenties, which is the age of when Indian women marry when so is arranged. Lata is a young and cheerful woman, who is missing her own culture. She has only been living in Cardiff for 2 months and she is already tired of where she is living. The weather doesn’t suit her while she is used to living under bright clouds and the burning sun. She misses her friends and family while she is trying to convince herself that her father was right for choosing where she lived and with whom she is living with. Although she comes from a rather wealthy family, her father thought that is was the best for her to go to the UK. Her family had money for maids, they had money for washing their clothes and they also had money for something rather expensive, sending their children to college. India is a very poor country and very few have the funds to do so. That was one of the main reasons why Lata was so confused and did not understand the decision her father made. But even though her father had never set a foot outside of India, he believed that the ideal option for her was to move to Wales.
The profession of her husband was never told in the short story, so there is no way of knowing whether he is wealthy or not. In the culture of India it is very normal for the parents to arrange with whom their child is marrying. Because of that, it is usual for parents to tell their children that one can learn to love another. She has been living in Cardiff, Wales for 2 months now, which is almost 6 years less than her husband.
Lata is usually a cheerful person, but the arranged marriage and maybe also the weather has caused that she has fallen into a depression. The fact that the UK has a lot of rain and grey skies may have caused a lack of the vitamins she normally gets from the sun. That is a very common cause for depression.

Lata’s reaction to the movie
When Anuj and Lata went to see a movie, they didn’t know which movie they were going to watch. It happened by coincidence to be a Bollywood movie shot in her hometown. Watching that movie brought back so many memories and she commented almost every shot in the movie. She remembered everything from ice-cream-shops to where she went to school. In a way she felt like she was home. She started feeling happy again. But as they walked out of the theatre, out into the cold wind she came back to reality. She was not in sunny Mumbai anymore. She was back in Cardiff, the city with the cold weather, gray clouds and the freezing wind. She realized that she was almost so far from home as she could be and that was the thing that knocked her out. Lata did not like anything about Wales. She did not like the culture, she did not like the weather and she did not like the fact that she had no control over her life. She just tried to convince herself that her father was right and that one can learn to love another.
Lata was unemployed and therefore had nothing else to do than cook, clean and stay at home while her husband Anuj was out working. It would have been good for her to socialize more, like she did in India where she went to college. That may also have been a reason for her depression.

Anuj
Anuj, the husband is an Indian man who has lived in Wales for 6 years. He is well integrated and he does not miss India at all. He is very integrated, almost assimilated and almost only use Indian phrases and only a little. He seems intelligent while he does not waste his time with watching television, but likes to play mind challenging games like crosswords.
Anuj doesn’t seem to like, nor miss India. The only reason why he and Lata watched a Bollywood movie was that it was the only movie that wasn’t sold out. Anuj also seem to have been taught by his parents that you can learn to love another person and he also tries to. He tries to be romantic and hold her hands when they talk and she also tries. It is rather natural for them. It is what happens all the time in India and people seem to live with it.

The themes
The first theme is love. As I have mentioned earlier in this text, a lot of people have arranged marriages in India and it is rather normal for them to learn to love a person over time.
Another theme is adjustment. Lata is trying to adjust to the place she is living, but she seems to deny the fact that she will probably live there for the rest of her life. She sees everyday as one day closer to home and there is a big possibility that she will die unhappy.
The last theme is saying goodbye. As Lata moved to Wales, she had to say goodbye to everything she loved and had near. She had to start a whole new life and such a thing can be very difficult. She had to say goodbye to her friends and all of her family, only to start up a new one and that may be the hardest thing she was ever going to do in her life.

The ending
As Lata and Anuj walked out of the theatre Lata talked about her wanting a DVD player so she could watch Bollywood movies at home. If she were to get a DVD player and a set of Bollywood movies there was a chance that she would isolate herself from the world and only stay at home, cooking, cleaning and watching movies. It would be her own way of escaping reality and live her own life in the movies.
As they sat in the car, Lata bursted into tears. She finally realized that she was going to live the rest of her life in a cold and gray place. And she hated the fact that it was happening to her. Anuj waited with starting the car until she stopped crying, and when she was done he comforted her. This showed that he was also very gentle and caring which helped Lata a little. When he asked her if she was alright she said “Yeah, I’m alright. Let’s go home” and home as in their home. Not back home in India. This was her home now.